Risk, Communication and Health Psychology

Abstract

By Dianne C. Berry . Open University Press/McGraw-Hill Education , 2004 , PB £19.99 , 173pp . ISBN 0-335-21351-0 This book is one of the first to address the issue of communication of health risk in the context of a movement away from a paternalistic model of health-care in which doctors rarely involved patients in decision-making. In order for patients to become more empowered and truly involved in their own health-care and health-care decision-making, one needs to understand clearly the issues involved and the method of communicating health risk. Early chapters define and explain use of the term ‘risk’ in various disciplines, as well as how its meaning has changed over time, and how the public understands it. The chapter uses the example of the 1995 ‘pill scare’ to realistically move the reader into this complex subject matter. This chapter provides an excellent and quite comprehensive view of the subject in a relatively short amount of space. Each sentence appears to be full of useful information for a variety of audiences. For doctors, nurses and other health-care providers who wish to be more effective in communicating risk to their patients in an effort to empower them and create partnerships with them this text provides an excellent guide. For the researcher who seeks to explore issues related to how risk should be ideally be communicated, this text provides an in-depth conceptual framework that surely will be utilized greatly in the future. For the medical educator and those who train nurses and other health-care professionals, this book may serve as an excellent text as well as a guide to the development of course material on health communication in general as well as risk communication specifically. The second chapter is most useful in providing comprehensive operational definitions for risk. It further explains the concept of health risk from a variety of perspectives including that of the public. Chapter 3 tackles the very difficult concept of communicating probabilities clearly, concisely, and with examples that may easily be used in the classroom as well as in patient education. It challenges the traditional approach of communicating percentages in an effort to assist patients to understand risk. Further, it presents ways to overcome these issues. The remaining five chapters bring the reader through the concept of risk in a manner that is not only detailed and comprehensive, but builds on the previous chapters. These chapters cover the following topics: ‘understanding and influencing people's health behaviour’, ‘communicating information about health and treatment’, ‘patient information leaflets and the provision of written information’, ‘other risk scales and tools for aiding understanding of health-related information’. The author ends the book with a specific chapter entitled ‘Conclusions and Future Challenges’ which highlights among other issues the many ethical issues involved in risk communication. The author writes, ‘Effective risk communication is crucial if we want to improve health’. All concerned with patient care will surely agree after a reading of this text that will become a reference for years to come.